REAL ESTATE

Condominium and Homeowner Association Governance, Covenant Enforcement and Assessment Collections: Full service assis­tance to Condominium and Homeowners Association Boards of Directors and Property Managers on matters concerning corpo­rate gover­nance, conduct of meet­ings, effec­tive amend­ment of governing docu­ments, provi­sion of proper notices, impo­si­tion of special assess­ments, collec­tion of assess­ments and enforce­ment of governing docu­ments, rules and regulations.  

The firm bears in mind that a commu­nity asso­ci­a­tion is where you live or own prop­erty, our collec­tion prac­tices and the tone of our collec­tion notices and letters are set in such a way as to try to mini­mize the nega­tive effects that often come with “scorched earth” debt collec­tors and collec­tion agen­cies.  Yes, we can be tough if a situ­a­tion warrants, but we also strive to seek amicable and prompt reso­lu­tion for asso­ci­a­tions who have owners that are in arrears in assessments.

When owners or occu­pants (tenants) violate covenants and restric­tions of a commu­nity, this is another instance where — unless the situ­a­tion involves grave danger to persons or prop­erty — the firm gener­ally first makes a diplo­matic effort for reso­lu­tion prior to legal proceed­ings or other dispute reso­lu­tion processes.  

The firm works with prop­erty managers in all aspects of your association’s gover­nance and collec­tion issues and may occa­sion­ally provide assis­tance or guid­ance to prop­erty managers to benefit client asso­ci­a­tions without charge to the asso­ci­a­tion. Often asso­ci­a­tion board members do not under­stand that the prop­erty manager cannot give legal advice, cannot lawfully draft liens and should not be the inter­me­diary between the attorney and the asso­ci­a­tion board. I work to clarify such matters so that the asso­ci­a­tion may be effec­tively represented.

The firm is also well-experienced in drafting and passage of amend­ments for home­owner asso­ci­a­tion and condo­minium asso­ci­a­tion decla­ra­tions covenants and restric­tions, bylaws and arti­cles of incor­po­ra­tion.  In such work, we assist the board each step of the way from proposal of amend­ments, to drafting, to discus­sion of pros and cons of amend­ments, to obtaining member consent and then certi­fi­ca­tion and recording.  While no law firm can guar­antee that proposed amend­ments to docu­ments will pass with member consent, I work with the asso­ci­a­tion board to assist in amend­ment passage each step of the way.  Fees for amend­ment work are on an hourly basis.  The complete amend­ment and restate­ment of all governing docu­ments for an asso­ci­a­tion rarely exceeds $3,500.00 and is usually in the range of $2,500.00 to $3,000.00, depending on complexity, needs and circum­stances. Flat or capped fees are often quoted once the situ­a­tion is assessed.

Commercial Leasing: Complex to simpli­fied commer­cial leasing contracts and commer­cial land­lord and tenant matters, including compre­hen­sive leases for matters ranging from shop­ping malls to ship­yards, and timber­lands to office parks; rent payment guar­anty and payment secu­rity docu­ments; and commer­cial evic­tion. Commercial evic­tion matters are liti­gated by the firm on hourly and capped fee terms depending on facts and applic­able law.

Timberlands: Leasing and sale of timber land from single cut short term leases and licenses, to long term leasing, and sales trans­ac­tions and Georgia timber deeds.

Communications Tower Sites: The firm has consid­er­able expe­ri­ence in nego­ti­a­tion and drafting of contracts for the purchase and sale of, and for leasing and licensing of space upon and beneath, commu­ni­ca­tions towers for broad­cast, cellular phone, broad­band and other uses.

BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS, CORPORATION AND LLC MATTERS

Business Transactions: Negotiation, docu­ment prepa­ra­tion, closing and post-closing services in the purchase and sale of busi­nesses and busi­ness assets of all types, including profes­sional prac­tices.

Corporate/LLC Formation and Governance: Entity selec­tion and forma­tion, share­holder, member and oper­ating agree­ments, Articles and Bylaws, and entity gover­nance for profit and non-profit entities.

Contracts and Additional Business Matters: Employment and inde­pen­dent contractor agree­ments, soft­ware licenses, resale and distri­b­u­tion agree­ments, and equip­ment leases. Negotiation and drafting services offered for virtu­ally all business-related agree­ments. Secured trans­ac­tions and Florida liquor license purchase and sale trans­ac­tions, and liens.

Business Litigation: The firm accepts select busi­ness liti­ga­tion matters.  Such matters range from breach of contract collec­tions actions paid on an hourly basis, to secu­ri­ties fraud and invest­ment rescis­sion actions taken, in some cases, on full contin­gency (with no attor­neys’ fee if no recovery is made). Whether a matter is based on an hourly rate or contin­gency depends upon the facts and applic­able law.  Please contact the firm for further details.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (Trademarks, Copyrights, Software, Internet and Media Law)

Trademark and Copyright Registration and Licensing: Full-service trade­mark and copy­right regis­tra­tion services, including pre-filing research, appli­ca­tion prepa­ra­tion and filing, and post-application follow-up. I can also assist you in analysis of infringe­ment issues and pros­e­cu­tion or defense of such issues.

Internet / E-Commerce / WWW Domain Names & Web Development: Licensing agree­ments, end user and shrink-wrap agree­ments for Internet sites, web site devel­op­ment and e-commerce services. Various addi­tional services include advise­ment on fraud, customer rela­tions and liti­ga­tion avoid­ance efforts. Internet domain name disputes resolved through nego­ti­a­tion, WIPO proce­dures and litigation.

Arts and Media: Selective repre­sen­ta­tion of persons and enti­ties in the arts and media fields, including: repre­sen­ta­tion of artists and performing arts enti­ties in contract review and nego­ti­a­tion; repre­sen­ta­tion of print and broad­cast media enti­ties for collec­tions, first amend­ment and intel­lec­tual prop­erty matters; repre­sen­ta­tion of on-air talent for broad­casting.  The firm does not serve as both the attorney and the artist’s agent to “shop” clients or their record­ings for the purpose of procure­ment of record deals or produc­tion contracts — we repre­sent clients who’re contem­plating deals presented to them directly or through other agents. This assures no conflict of interest.

PERSONAL BUSINESS MATTERS

Wills, Powers of Attorney, Healthcare Surrogacy and Living Wills: Drafting and prepa­ra­tion of testa­men­tary docu­ments, health­care desig­na­tions, living wills, contin­gent or imme­di­ately effec­tive durable powers of attorney and simple trusts.

Joint Ownership Agreements for Co-Owners and Non-Marital Relationships: An impor­tant concern that often goes over­looked is the need for persons sharing real or personal prop­erty owner­ship (resi­den­tial and vaca­tion real estate, yachts, motor vehi­cles, airplanes, recre­ational vehi­cles, etc.) to have co-ownership agree­ments in order to delin­eate each owner’s interest in the prop­erty, provide for divi­sion or sale of prop­erty upon certain events (disagree­ment, market events, death or disability of an owner, etc.), estab­lish the owners’ duties of main­te­nance of the prop­erty, the sharing of costs, and more — all depending upon the needs and specific circum­stances. This is a vitally impor­tant step for unmar­ried couples who own, or plan to own, prop­erty together.